perfection
by juuliiee
Summary: One Direction. Harry is a famous singer with a reputation, Niall is an unknown Uni student. Zayn is Harry's PA, Dani is his friend since childhood. Liam is Niall's best friend (and Harry's biggest fan). Louis is Liam's crazy flatmate and Eleanor is Louis' on/off girlfriend of ten years (currently on). Puss(y) is Louis' cat and the main source of annoyance for both Eleanor and Liam.


**Perfection**

Niall/Harry, Liam/Zayn, Louis/Eleanor.

Humour. Romance. A cat.

* * *

"PUSS! GET OFF NOW!"

This is usually the first thing Louis hears on a weekday morning, because he always forgets to set his alarm clock and he always forgets to lock the cat in his room, even though Liam reminds him every fucking night to do so. Not two seconds later, as Louis knew he would, Liam is banging on his door;

"Louis, get your awful cat off of the kitchen table!"

"Good morning to you too, sweetheart!" Louis half-sings and smiles. It's another beautiful day in the cheapest, crappiest flat this side of the Thames.

Louis only takes about ten seconds to get out, shower, get dressed and do his hair and by the time he joins Liam in the kitchen Liam is still in his pajamas, his hair sticking out in all the wrong directions. Louis spits on his hand and starts pulling at Liam's hair, "You could at least try to get your hair to stick out horribly in one direction, this is just sloppy, darling."

"Ew, gross, Louis, fucking stop doing that!" Liam pushes him away and sends him a most ungrateful scowl. Louis doesn't understand why people don't appreciate his helpfulness more. "I'm just trying to help," he says and rolls his eyes, searching around for a clean cup.

"Don't. And do something about that horrible, _horrible_ cat of yours."

Yeah, Liam is not a morning person. It's odd because at every other time of the day Liam is pleasant and friendly and polite – but he is never a fan of Puss.

"Could you at least rename him or something. Puss reminds me of Pus and it's not appealing, Lou."

Louis finally finds the _I heart the Wanted_ cup he had been searching for, a small triumphant smile on his face. Yes, good way to start an otherwise dreary and rainy Monday. "You could just call him Pussy, which is his name and is what I asked you to call him."

"That's vile, Louis."

"It's not my fault you don't like Pu-" Louis starts to say, but is stopped by Liam's hand across his mouth. "Too early in the morning for that kind of talk," Liam says and gives him another of his _glances_.

Liam, as per usual, leaves Louis confused.

"Rename him," is the last thing Liam says to Louis before he leaves for class, poking his head into Louis' room, and gives him the first smile of the day. Normality has started again.

When Louis leaves fifteen minutes later, orange trousers on and polka dotted beanie on his head, he sees the note Liam has left for him the front door of the building, almost as an afterthought.

_Dear Louis. _

"_Pus is an exudate produced by vertebrates during inflammatory pyogenic bacterial infections. Pus exudate, typically white-yellow, yellow, or yellow-brown, formed at the site of inflammation during infection. An accumulation of pus in an enclosed tissue space is known as an abscess, whereas a visible collection of pus within or beneath the epidermis is known as a pustule or pimple." So says Wikipedia and Wikipedia is our friend and the speaker of all things true._

Beneath Liam's neat handwriting is a note from that guy who lives in the flat above them, _"Louis, dude, just do whatever he wants. This is not something I want to read as I'm about to leave for work, thanks."_

Someone has added, _"I agree, ffs."_

This is one of the many reasons he loves Puss(y) so much.

* * *

_**Monday Afternoon, In a random coffee shop**_

Niall locates Liam and Louis by the table farthest from the door, clearly talking intensely, he can tell by the way Liam's arms are crossed over his chest, looking absolutely miserable, and Louis is half-sprawled over the table, eyes big and round and he's obviously begging for something. Probably the survival of poor Pussy.

"Hey guys," he says and drops down in the sofa next to Louis, who immediately throws an arm around his waist and kisses his cheek, "Hey babe, you look lovely today, how are you?"

"Good, thanks Lou, you?"

"Wonderful, just fantastically wonderful."

Liam just looks at them, still looking moody. Niall, not for the first time, wonders why Liam is his best friend, when Louis is always so much more _welcoming_.

"How about you, Li?" he asks, but Liam just sighs loudly and looks even sadder.

"He's upset about Pussy, " Louis says, " and because he didn't get tickets to one of the new Harry concerts."

"Got what?" Niall asks and Liam finally looks up and speaks, fury in his usually so calm and friendly eyes, "One of the new Harry Styles concerts, Niall, right here in London, I didn't get tickets!" Liam looks like he is almost about to cry. (He doesn't, but he will definitely cry about it tonight when he's alone, though.)

"Harry who?" Niall is only teasing – he fully knows who Harry Styles is, because Liam never shuts up about him, constantly plays his CDs and has decorated his entire room with posters of him. He also kisses the posters goodnight, and they all tease him about it. But Liam is too upset to recognize the teasing tone in Niall's voice. "Harry Styles, Niall! The most awesome person ever – EVER! And I didn't get tickets!"

Louis jumps up and plants himself in Liam's lap nuzzling against him, "Aww, it's okay Liam, you'll survive, you still have us!"

Niall reaches over and strokes Liam's hand, "I'm sorry, Li. You'll get some next time, I'm sure of it."

"But who knows when that could be, it could be a year!"

Louis and Niall both lean closer and hug him tighter. Liam doesn't usually let them be too affectionate in public, but today is one of the rare times where he's just too upset to push them away.

"Oi, make room lovebirds," a female voice says and throws an enormous amounts of shopping bags on the little round table.

"Ellie!" Louis yells, and everyone in the little coffee shop looks annoyingly over at them, jumps up and hugs her tightly, proceeding to snog her as if he'll never have another chance. Louis sits down on the sofa again and pulls Eleanor on top of him, continuing their very public show. They always act like this when they've just gotten back together. It'll be over in a couple of weeks and they'll go back to their more normal selves – as normal as Louis can be, at least.

Liam looks over at Niall, and rolls his eyes. Niall shakes his head a little and laughs. "So, Li, let's talk about something else and avoid these loons."

Liam finally smiles, just a little, "Do you want to go with me to the WonDee bookstore this weekend? Harry is signing CDs there."

Niall groans maybe too loudly, "Liam! For fucks sake, can we ever talk about something, _anything_ else? I'm sick of this Harry guy already and I don't even listen to his music!"

"But he's Harry Styles! He's a rich and famous superstar!"

"I don't care! What's so great about him anyways?"

Liam storms off in an angry rage and Niall feels a little bit guilty because he knows how Liam is and he never does anything half-heartedly – it's only natural for him to be a bit (a lot) obsessive.

He'll apologise later, he decides, but for now he needs to focus on pulling Louis and Eleanor apart before they get kicked out for indecent behaviour in a public place and they will all have to find a new place to hang out after classes.

* * *

_**Monday Night, In a super chic and very expensive flat **_

Harry is back in London. He has to do some CD signings and then he has two weeks off before the final stretch of his current tour.

And he's tired.

It's not that he doesn't appreciate all the love the fans give him but sometimes they're just really fucking annoying and almost always in the way of him living anything resembling a normal life. He loves being famous and wanted, because, duh, it's awesome and he can have anything and anyone he wants, but for fucks sake, some privacy would be much appreciated sometimes.

He's always just a human being and he's never had problems with self-esteem, he _knows_ he's attractive and all that, but it would be nice to try being with someone who actually likes _Harry_ for Harry and not for his celebrity or money.

For the last two hours he's been having this conversation, again, with Zayn and Zayn tries, he really does, but no one, unless they are in a similar situation, are ever going to completely understand what it's like and what's he's feeling. (_"Give me some millions and I'll try to understand better,"_ Zayn once said – _"I would, but if I do you would just buy better friends and forget about me, so no – no money for you,"_ Harry replied.)

"So, go out and find someone who doesn't know who you are," Zayn says as if it's the most logical thing in the whole world. "Seriously, do that, go in disguise or something."

"In disguise, Z, really? Is that the best you've got?"

Zayn looks somewhat offended at Harry's easy dismissal of his brilliant idea. "And why not"?

"Because, Zayn – Because where am I supposed to find someone who doesn't know who I am? Everyone fucking knows who I am!"

"Jesus, calm down Harry – and tone down the arrogance, it's off-putting," a voice coming from the door says. They both turn and see Danielle just as she locks the door behind her. "So, what are you boys freaking out over today?"

"I'm not freaking out, Harry is!" Zayn is looking offended at Danielle, like he's shocked she would even _suggest_ he would be freaking out.

"Zayn," Harry says, "you are my assistant, so please _assist_ me here, and stop the moaning."

"I'm not moaning!"

"What do you call that then?"

"Boys! Stop it now and tell me what is going on. What were you talking about?"

Harry sighs loudly and drops down onto the sofa dramatically, "I'm never going to find someone who likes me for me – the real me."

"Well," Zayn smirks, "maybe that is because the real you is actually an extremely unpleasant person."

Harry is just about to retort, but Danielle has pulled all three of them into a group hug. "He doesn't mean it like that Harry, you can be very lovely and we love you."

And Harry knows this of course. These are his best friend and it's just their way of playing around. "So kids, are we going out tonight or what?" he asks, but it's stupid because when don't they go out? It's all about being seen and noticed – that's how you make it in this business.

So they go out and Zayn manages to keep Harry under control which in reality is 90 percent of what his job is all about. That, and keeping him from doing anything that could potentially damage his reputation and/or his career. For example, making sure he gets home without dying or letting it slip to the tabloids when Harry hooks up with something just remotely famous, whether male or female, because everyone already knows what's he's like – he doesn't discriminate. He does make mistakes, such as when he shagged that 15-year-old girl and oops, but that is for management and the damage control team to handle. Hey, don't judge – she told him she was 18 and why shouldn't he believe a sweet girl like that?

Harry doesn't really know what he's looking for tonight – he was hoping for someone who wouldn't start with 'oh my god you're Harry Styles' but apparently that is asking for too much. He would have even settled for someone less than perfect if only they wouldn't say that.

No luck.

He ends up with blonde, blue-eyed, orange, overdone Lucy. She looks just like all the other girls, and he won't remember her tomorrow, but she will be bragging to all her equally pathetic friends for a very long time. Oh well.

It's only just after midnight when Zayn grabs Harry and tell him they need to go _now_. They're both stupidly drunk and really, Zayn is a lousy personal assistant, but he's a good best friend and that is the only reason Harry puts up with him. Also, he's very, very pretty to look at, and that is as always a redeeming quality in people according to Harry.

"Why?" he whines and lets go of Lucy. "I was just having fun." (He's not really, it's a Monday night and no one interesting is out on a Monday night, but whatever, it's better than just being home. Though, an evening hanging out with Zayn and Danielle doesn't actually sound too bad… Lucy is dumb as a door, and while he enjoys sex, tonight he also has a strange craving for intelligence – he must be getting old.)

"I know you are, but I'm not," Zayn says and nods his head towards the corner of the club. Harry follows his gaze and oh yeah, that's Zayn's horrible, crazy ex-boyfriend.

"Alright, lets go."

Lucy complains, but Harry couldn't care any less. "Where is Danielle?" he asks, but Zayn just shakes his head like _no, she left with some guy_. Harry thinks maybe they know each other too well if he can tell just by that what Zayn means. He could use more friends, real friends, but that is another thing that is hard to find. So he confides in Zayn and Danielle and parties with his celebrity acquaintances. It's a good life… No, really it is. _It is_. (_"You're not fooling anymore, Harry," _Danielle would say if she was here.)

"So, did you find the love of your life tonight?" Zayn asks when they're sitting in the taxi on the way home. The sarcasm in his voice is evident to everyone, but Harry just smiles and leans his head on Zayn's shoulder. "No, no not tonight. Tomorrow I will, I have a feeling I will."

* * *

_**Monday night**_

Niall is so tired he can barely see the words on the page anymore, but fuck he needs to know this or else Professor Cowell will _murder_ him tomorrow.

He should have paid Liam to read this and then tell him what it says tomorrow. Niall is way better at listening than reading, but Liam is pretty much a genius. Also, Liam would probably make it sound simpler than this stupid, ancient book.

"Eugh," he groans and slams the book shut. This is just not working for him tonight.

_HELP!_ He texts Liam.

_You come here and take Puss away I will do anything you say, ever, for all eternity… anything xx_

He hasn't even had time to reply before Louis has texted him, too.

_Don't do it Niall! I love Pussy! Xx_

_Do it! I hate Pussy!_ Liam writes.

He shakes his head at his stupid friends – two years now they've lived together and they've been having the same fight for exactly that amount of time.

He eventually settles for getting up half an hour earlier tomorrow and read the final chapter, because it's obviously not happening tonight.

_Do it, Niall_ Eleanor texts him before he can, finally, go to sleep.

Sometimes he dreams of something else, he doesn't know what, but he dreams.

* * *

_**Tuesday Morning, at Uni**_

They are only halfway into the lecture and Niall is pretty certain he might die of boredom very, very soon. It doesn't make it better that he had to get up thirty minutes earlier today to read the rest of the book, and now he's just _so fucking tired_. Liam is sitting next to him, staring with wide and genuinely interested eyes at Professor Cowell, furiously scribbling down notes (which Niall will have to copy later, as will everyone else apparently) and just being the only one in the entire room paying any attention to the early history of the western philosophers' views on the concept of justice.

Liam always gets top grades in Philosophy, mostly because he's a brilliant student, but also a little bit because Cowell fancies him. This is why it's a smart move to sit next to Liam. Should Cowell ever want to ask Niall something, he will naturally notice and be distracted by Liam sitting next to him and ask him instead. It's pathetic in a cute sort of way.

Suddenly his head slams against the desk, and oopsie he must have almost fallen asleep. He quickly sits up again, but everyone is already looking at him, mostly giggling, but Liam is shaking his head judgmentally at him. He feels like embarrassing Liam by revealing his odd obsession with a certain popstar popular amongst the teen fangirls, but Liam would probably die of humiliation, and how would he ever survive this class without Liam?

"I just can't understand why he doesn't just get rid of it – it's snobby and rude and bossy and _feline_," Liam says, the repulsion clear in his eyes, sounding like cats are the most evil creature on the entire planet. He's such a drama queen. And untypical drama queen, what with his books and his smartness, but a drama queen nonetheless.

Niall sighs and looks longingly at his sandwich. He just wants to eat his lunch in peace and enjoy sitting out here on the grass in the wonderful warm weather. "Liam, can we not talk about this today?" he asks.

"But it's ruining my whole life!"

Yes, definitely a drama queen.

"No, it's really, really not. Man, you need to focus on something else than Pussy, Li, it's not good for your mental health."

Liam shoots him a glare, and then lies down on his back, staring up at the sky, a longing, distant look in his eyes. "If only there was some way I could get tickets to the Harry show…"

Niall groans loudly. "Focus on something else _other_ than Harry Styles!"

Liam turns his head towards him, eyebrows twisted in confusion as he asks sincerely, "Like what?" as if it's inconceivable that there is other things in the world beside Pussy and Harry Styles.

Niall just shakes his head and picks up the sandwich again, "You need a boyfriend, Li, like… really, super badly you need one. Or just a good fuck."

* * *

_**Tuesday Midday, Harry's flat**_

When Harry eventually decides to wake up there is a strange girl next to him in his bed, sleeping, and he has absolutely no idea how she got there or even who she is because he went home alone with Zayn last night, so how the fuck did this happen?

He stumbles out of bed and heads for the kitchen because he desperately needs breakfast and painkillers for this enormous headache. When he gets there Zayn and Danielle and an unknown guy are already sitting around the kitchen table. Zayn and Danielle don't officially live here, but seem to be here all the time (when they're not on tour with Harry) and have each apparently claimed a bedroom. Harry doesn't know much of what's goes on around him, he has people for that, so he just lets things happen and goes with the flow.

"'Morning" he mumbles and sits down next to Zayn, resting his head on the cool surface, "help me." He sounds pitiful and childish, but it works, and he can hear Danielle getting up and opening and closing cupboards. Five seconds later there is a plate with food in front of him and a glass of water with something fizzling in it that will help this terrible headache go away.

"Thanks babe, I love you."

The other three continue to chatter away, while Harry focuses on eating and breathing. Unknow Guy is Danielle's _friend_ from last night, he's sound alright, but he soon says goodbye and leaves. Harry has a feeling he will be seeing him again – he can tell by the look in Danielle's eyes.

"Who's the girl in my bed and how did she get there?" he asks.

Zayn and Danielle look at each other, Zayn rolling his eyes and Danielle shaking her head. "You don't remember?" Danielle asks him.

"No," he mumbles.

"We continued drinking when we got home last night, because you couldn't fall asleep because Danielle was too _loud_," Zayn says, (and Danielle blushes), "- and then I went to bed and you decided to call a random number… I guess that's how that girl got here. And, by the way, she was even louder than Danielle."

"Zayn!"

"Anyway," Zayn continues, "what are your plans for today?"

"Going out," Harry replies, "by myself, by the way, I'm hanging out with myself today."

"Please do, let us have a break," Danielle says, but there's a sparkle in her eyes, so Harry knows she doesn't mean it. Or maybe it's because of New Guy.

After they've finished eating Harry gets up and pulls a hat over his hair, covering every single strand of his signature curly hair, finds a jacket he's never worn before so people won't recognize it from the magazines, tells Zayn to _do your job and kick the girl out when she wakes up_ and leaves. He is determined to _not_ be recognized today.

* * *

_**Tuesday Afternoon, in a tiny CD shop in the city centre**_

Niall is quickly searching through the _2 for £10 _box trying to find some hidden gems, unsuccessfully so far. He survived it through his classes and is now celebrating how he has absolutely no papers, no essays, no exams, no books to read, for the rest of the week.

It's not until he's finally finds some CDs with potential to be good that he notices the guy standing next to him, also rummaging through the CDs. "Hi," he says, because he's nothing if not polite and he likes people generally. The guy looks up, looking shocked to be spoken to, and for a moment he just stares at Niall, but when Niall just keeps smiling at him, he finally replies; "Hi."

"So," he says and nods at the CDs in the guy's hands, "you like indie music."

The guy smiles at him – it's quite pretty. "Yeah, it's – not what I normally sing myself – I mean, yeah, it's my favourite."

The boy is very pretty and it's very distracting, Niall thinks, lovely green eyes. It's a shame his hat and jacket is covering so much of his face and body, because Niall has a feeling it's very attractive.

"I'm Niall," he says and sticks his hand out towards the guy. If he's really lucky the guy might want to talk to him.

"Harry," the guy says and shakes his hand.

"I haven't seen you here before…" Niall says, because Niall comes here all the time, actually he knows the owner and he works here on the weekends, and he's never seen Harry before.

"No, it's my first time here, I like it. I like the selection they have," Harry says. "Yeah," Niall says, "it's quite good, not too much of the poppy stuff."

"Yeah, I noticed," Harry says and smiles. "There's certainly a theme going on here – I like it."

Niall laughs. He's not sure why, but Harry makes him want to laugh and smile. "So, you're not into the boybands and the teen heartthrobs either?" he asks and points to the Harry Styles and The Wanted posters hanging by the door, promoting the newest CDs (because the shop still has to make money so they do sell the Top Tens). Harry looks at the posters, an odd look on his face, before he turns to Niall, and shakes his head, "Nah, not my kind of music."

They small talk for a while, and Niall is just so happy he met this guy here today, because they've just really hit it off and Niall is pretty sure he's slowly falling in love with the green eyes and the wide smile. At one point he looks over at Sean who pulling down some of the old posters (Sean is the owner of this place and he's also Niall's ex-boyfriend. And Liam's ex-boyfriend. Eleanor's too, but that's a long story) and Sean winks at him and gives him a thumps up, whispering "go for it."

Niall hopes and prays that Harry didn't notice.

"Do you, maybe, want to get out of here and go out for coffee or something?" Harry then asks, still smiling _that_ smile.

_Yes yes yes yes yes fucking hell yes! YES!_

"Yeah, sure, why not."

It's the best two hours in Niall's life this far. They drink the same kind of coffee, like the same kind of music and both prefer sitting in the spot where they're least likely to be disturbed by crazy Louis or neurotic Liam and – whoever Harry doesn't like being disturbed by.

After a couple of hours Harry goes outside to take a call and when he comes back he's looking apologetic. "Niall, I'm sorry, I have to go now, it's my assi – my friend, he apparently needs me urgently or whatever."

Niall stands up and goes to shake Harry's hand, saying "No problem, I had a really good time," but Harry grabs Niall's hand between both of his instead and Niall's heart shoots up into his throat and he's suddenly feeling like he may _faint_. He's such a girl sometimes.

"I really like you Niall, and – I would like to see you again," Harry says.

"I'd like that, too."

Harry smiles. "Good. Maybe we could go on a proper date. I'll be really busy soon, so maybe we could do it tomorrow evening?"

And how could Niall possibly say no that that? He's blushing, he knows it, but he's just never been this excited about anything before. A sound sounding like _hmmm, umm_ comes out of his mouth, but Harry must understand what he's trying to say, because he leans in and kisses Niall on the cheek and says goodbye. Niall watches him go and holy mother of fuck how did this day turn out so awesome?

* * *

_**Tuesday Evening, Liam and Louis' flat**_

It's Tuesday which means Liam is doing Mexican for dinner so naturally Niall goes to Liam and Louis's flat (which Niall like to refer to as Pussy Palace – Liam hates that.)

"Hey guys!" he yells as soon as he is inside.

"NIALL! Love of my life, angel of my heart, spirit of my soul, you're here!" Louis shrieks as he comes bouncing from the living room and drags Niall back with him. Eleanor is sitting on the sofa desperately trying to push Puss off. "Calm down, Lou, you just saw him yesterday," she says and rolls her eyes.

"Also, it's Tuesday, you knew he wasn't going to be here!" Liam yells from the kitchen.

Niall drops down on the sofa next to Eleanor and kisses her on the cheek, Louis placing himself in her lap. "So, what's new?" he asks.

Niall blushes (again) and smiles slightly.

"Ooohhh, now what's that?" Eleanor asks, "you're all… blushing like a schoolgirl. Something you want to tell us?"

Louis is bouncing up and down now, looking hopeful, until Eleanor steadies her hands on his hips to keep him still.

"I met a guy."

"YOU MET A GUY? OH MY GOD THIS IS FANTASTIC! Oh my God, how sweet, who is he?"

"Louis! Calm down for gods sake, shut up!" Eleanor is trying desperately to hold Louis in place, but it's proving difficult. Somehow Niall knew it was going to be like this. And they hadn't even been on a date yet, it might turn out to be nothing.

"LIAM ! Get in here! Niall met a guy! FINALLY!"

Liam joins them and he looks at Niall, searching for confirmation of some kind, but still looking genuinely happy. "Really Niall? Who is he?"

"Where did you meet him?" Eleanor asks and Louis is still squealing from excitement.

"Guys, please, just… shhh," Niall finally says when there's finally one second of silence. "His name is Harry and I met him down at Sean's shop. He studies Music. We had coffee and he asked me out tomorrow. I really like him, like, a lot, but I hardly know him yet, so please don't start planning our wedding or anything."

"Aww, congratulations," Liam says and hugs him and Eleanor strokes his hair, "Happy for you, Niall."

"THIS IS AWESOME! Oh my god we can go on double dates again – we haven't done that since Sean!" Louis is, of course, still yelling.

Niall looks at Puss and he swears, _he swears_, that she rolls her eyes at them.

Smart cat.

* * *

_**Wednesday Afternoon, in Niall's flat**_

See, normally Niall is pretty cool about dating and getting to know people and romance, but apparently meeting a total stranger and maybe, just maybe, starting fancying him almost instantly, has made him such a girl that even Liam thinks he is acting weird. And this is Liam who is normally so nervous and panicky about dating that he obsess over outfits and talking points and _oh my god what I am going to do, help me, help me _for weeks.

It has been possibly the longest day of his entire life, and he hasn't even been able to enjoy his lunch break and still there are several hours to go before he is meeting Harry outside of the restaurant. He hasn't heard of the restaurant they're going to before, Harry just wrote down the name on a napkin and told Niall to meet him there at 19:00 (and yes, he had actually said 19:00, which would have made Niall laugh normally, but he was too busy blushing and embarrassing himself.

And now he is just waiting. He turned off his phone after the first eighteen _hey good luck / get laid_ texts from his idiot friends (he thinks they may be even more excited / nervous than him). And yes, he is excited, of course he is, because it's been a while since he went on an actual date. Random hook-ups and one nighters, but an actual, real date with food and conversation – yeah, it's been a while. And even longer since he's been in a relationship that lasted longer than a month. Not since Sean, and that was years ago. (Liam stole Sean from him, but they didn't know each other then, and Niall hated him for about three weeks and then he moved on, and yes, it is probably a bit weird to have met your best friend like that, but it totally works for them. Later, Sean dumped Liam for Eleanor when he wanted to try _the hetero sex_ and Eleanor was in an off period with Louis anyway, so what was the harm… Needless to say, that didn't work out very well because _ew, hetero sex, gross_, but somehow they're all still friends.) Niall makes a mental note to remember to not talk too much about his friends with Harry or he is just going to scare him off.

* * *

_**Wednesday Evening, in a fancy restaurant**_

When Niall gets to the restaurant Harry is already there waiting for him, and for some reason that settles his nerves a little bit. It's quite a fancy looking restaurant actually, not somewhere Niall, or anyone he knows, would ever go, and he wonders briefly if Harry maybe comes from a really rich family, because he is just a student, and Niall _knows_ that doesn't give you a lot of extra money to spend on something like this.

"Hi, Harry," he says as he gets closer and Harry turns around and smiles at him, "Hey."

He is still wearing that stupid hat and ridiculously oversized jacket, but his smile and eyes are even lovelier than he remembers so it's alright. "Hey!"

Niall's heart skips a beat and oh wow, this is real.

Harry had thought about whether or not this was really a good idea, going on a date with a total stranger in disguise, all day, but as he's sitting here enjoying the food, the wine and the excellent company he is so, so happy he decided to do this.

Niall had seemed a bit nervous at first, but as soon as they sat down and he got started talking the nervousness had disappeared and he had talked and laughed just as he did yesterday.

Harry really, really enjoyed this. He enjoyed just being Harry from Cheshire, music student and regular guy – just like everyone else. Sometimes he really wishes he was that person, especially lately the whole popstar thing has been wearing him down, and even the meaningless fucks are becoming dull. That girl from the other night? He still doesn't remember her face, her name or even what they did. Dull, dull, dull. He needs _something else_. So yeah, he enjoys pretending, but deep down inside he _was_ that guy once. He never studied music, but he would have if he hadn't been snatched up by a talent agent when he was 17 and turned into something he wasn't. He still hates pop music, even if it has made him rich and famous.

And Niall, oh, he is just wonderful. The way he talks about his life, and his classes, and his friends, is so full of life and energy and Harry wants to have that. Even his friends, whom he has known forever, way before was famous (he can't trust anyone he has met since becoming famous, because they just want his name and his face), have become famous because of him – simply because they are his friends. That's the world he is living in.

"I think you're really lovely, I really like you," he says all of a sudden, interrupting Niall who just looks at him, mouth slightly open and a wonderful red starting to colour his face. "Oh, I…" Niall says, looking shocked and a little confused.

"Shit, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, it was a bit too much, wasn't it? I'm really sorry," Harry manages to get out, because he shouldn't have said something like that so soon and oh, he hopes he hasn't screwed this up now. He's useless at dating – it's not something he ever does. The only people he takes on something resembling dates are Zayn and Danielle, and it's not quite the same at all.

Then Niall reaches over and takes his hand, "No, don't, I… I do too, I mean, I like you, too."

Harry can't help the smile on his face, but it doesn't matter because the way Niall is smiling back at him is totally worth it. Before he has a chance to say anything, though, he sees the people standing in the door of the restaurant looking at him, _and fucking taking pictures, the bastards_ and he knows he has been spotted. Fucking paparazzi, he fucking hates them. And he had even chosen this particular restaurant because he knows the owner and they have an agreement that Harry can be left alone when he's there, and get some sense of privacy. He needs to get them out of here before Niall notices what is going on. He squeezes Niall's hand, "You know what, let's get out of here, I want to go somewhere else."

Niall looks confused still, but they've already finished their meal so it's not too weird that Harry wants to go somewhere else. At least that is what Harry hopes Niall is thinking as he grabs his hand and takes off towards the back door, muttering something about how he paid when they got here, because right now he just needs to get them _out, out, out_ of here.

When they get outside, Niall suddenly starts laughing, still clinging to Harry's hand. "You're so weird, Harry, what in the world was that? I was even worried about talking about my friends, because they're all _so weird_, but you'd fit right in."

Harry has to shakes his head at himself, and smile a little, because he can totally see how that scene he just made would have looked to anyone else.

_He wishes he had told Niall the truth about who he is. It had been the logical thing to do when Niall had pointed to the poster of him in the CD shop yesterday and it's a bit awkward to start talking about it now._

He should probably think of where to take Niall now, but he just looks so irresistible standing there and Harry pulls him closer. Niall is still looking expectantly up at him, waiting for him to say something, but Harry just wants to lean in and kiss him.

So he does. Behind a dumpster in a dark alley outside a restaurant, but fuck that, fuck all of that because wow, he's never wanted to kiss anyone so bad and he loves the way Niall is slightly shaking against him.

Harry's lips are so soft against his, and his arms feel strong around his waist and it's all so _perfect_ that Niall can't help but sigh a little into his mouth. It only seems to encourage Harry who presses closer and Niall lets out an embarrassing moan when he feels Harry's tongue stroke over his bottom lip.

They're interrupted when Harry suddenly pulls away and looks angrily at his phone. "Damn," he says, "I have to take this, sorry." He looks genuinely apologetic and Niall nods his head, "Yeah, that's okay."

Harry mumbles a lot, especially when he's on the phone it seems, and all Niall catches of the conversation are things like _"yeah, okay, alright, hmmm, but why… okay,"_ and it doesn't make much sense to him. When Harry puts the phone away again he smiles apologetically at Niall, "I'm so sorry, I have to go, it's sort of an emergency…"

_Oh_

'_Emergency' sounds like the lamest excuse ever in the history of lame excuses, but then, Harry just kissed him like he really, really wanted to…_

Harry hugs him close again and Niall leans into it because, well, Harry may or may not be blowing him off, but he's still really, really gorgeous and he should at least enjoy _this_.

"I still would really like to see you again, can we do that?" Harry says and all Niall can answer is "Yes." _Yes yes yes yes yes yes!_

Harry asks for his number and then hands his phone over to Niall and watches in fascination as he types his name and number in. Niall tries to not peek at the names in Harry's contacts, but he does recognize the name of a very well-known supermodel / junkie and wow, he needs to ask about that next time.

"I'll text you later," Harry says and winks before he leaves.

"Looking forward to it."

* * *

_**Wednesday Midnight, back in Niall's flat**_

Niall is not surprised when he gets back to his flat and four people are randomly lounging around his tiny living room watching a rerun of some reality show.

Louis is, of course, the first to spot him and he literally jumps up from the floor with excitement. "Nialll! It's midnight, you absolute slut, did you get any?! Oh my god, you did! Woooooo!"

"Oh god, Lou, shut the fuck you… but did you, Niall?" Sean says from his place on the sofa. Niall just rolls his eyes, no way is he going to dignify that with an answer.

"Hehe, _fuck the shut up_," Louis giggles and Liam throws a pillow at him, missing him completely and hitting Eleanor instead. Great, drinking on a Wednesday, brilliant idea, Niall thinks, and throws himself down on the sofa next to Sean who winks at him. "So?"

He looks around at all of them. "So… what?"

"Niall, you dimbo, what happened?! How did it go?" Liam half-moans in frustration.

"With Harry?" he asks teasingly because he knows damn well what they want to know.

"Yes, with Harry, for gods sake Niall, just tell us, we've been waiting here _all goddamn night!_" and now he's even managed to frustrate Eleanor which is quite an accomplishment. He sighs. "It went really well, if you must know ("Yes, we must know!" Louis yells), Harry is just… so sweet ("and such a pretty name," Liam agrees) and… like, fucking gorgeous ("Sexy times, yeah!" Louis yells, again), we get along really well and he seems to like me, too ("Told you so," Eleanor says and rolls her eyes, but smiles) and he asked me out again ("Wooohoooooo! _Someone_ yells)."

They eventually make him tell them all about it, and Louis and Sean kindly make a live commentary of the event, and by the time he gets to the part about the kissing he's blushing furiously and having to hide his face behind a pillow. When _did_ he turn into Liam?

The thing about his friends is – they're a bit crazy and weird, but they all genuinely love each other and he knows they are all so, so happy for him.

A comfortable silence settles around them, and a few "aww"s from Liam and Louis at his, still, very red face and the smitten look on his face (Only one date, well two if you count the day the met, and he's already in trouble. Great.)

It's a while later, TV on mute, silent whispers between Louis and Eleanor, but they're basically all half-asleep when Liam sits up rather abruptly.

"You think Harry would adopt Puss?"

* * *

_**Wednesday Midnight, Harry's flat**_

All the way home Harry feels awful about making up an emergency to get away, but the paparazzi were so close and he couldn't let them be caught. A guilty conscience is something Harry hasn't felt in years, but for once his night wasn't filled with cheap sluts and expensive champagne, and maybe that has something to do with it. He wants Niall for himself, just this one thing that is totally private and no one else's business, that's all he wants. He had to get them out of there, before everything would be ruined before it had even begun.

The flat is silent and dark when he gets back. There's a low buzz of TV noise coming from Zayn's room and when he peeks in Zayn is mindlessly flipping through a tabloid magazine (_Fraternizing with the enemy_ – they need to have a chat about that).

"Harry, hey, how was the date?" Zayn asks when he looks up and sees him. Harry smiles

"Z, it was pretty damn perfect. I finally, _finally_, meet someone I really like, and I've lied to him the whole time, and he will probably hate me. But apart from that – perfect."

* * *

_**Thursday morning, at Harry's flat**_

The next morning Harry wakes up with a conscience so guilty he almost chokes on it. He rolls over and almost falls out of the bed, and he pretty much already hates this day to the point where he just wants to sleep it away.

Something hits his head and he groans into the pillow. "What the fuck?"

"Time to get up Harry, potential crisis here!" Zayn says, and throws another pair of underwear at him. Those better be goddamn clean. "What do you mean crisis?" Harry asks, because it's not like this is the first time Zayn has woken him up like this, and mostly it's just about some z-list celebrity who has decided to make a derogatory comment about him. Like he actually cares. He's still top ten and a best-selling artist so whatever.

Zayn sits down next to him. "Well, it's not actually so much of a _publicity_ crisis, but more of a _personal _thing for you, I guess."

That peaks Harry's interest and he looks at Zayn who is biting nervously on his bottom lip.

"_What?"_

Zayn throws a tabloid magazine at him and at first Harry wants to judge Zayn for having it in his possessions, but the headline throws him off. Well, fuck. _Fuck_.

_HARRY STYLES' SECRET DATE!_

He sits up and instantly puts his head in his hands. "This is _not_ happening, Zayn, make it not happen." Harry is not beyond making demands for the impossible when he is distressed, it turns out, and they've both learned something new today. "Oh god, Niall will know now, that I was lying to him, and he will hate me forever!"

It's not until that moment Harry realises how much he actually cares about the potential relationship, in a way he never has before. His only hope is that Niall somehow hasn't seen the articles and the pictures, but he figures he's probably not that lucky.

"Z, what am I going to do, you're my assistant, help me!"

He _knows_ he sounds like an ungrateful little shit but he is just on that side of desperate and has absolutely no idea how to behave in a situation like this. Stupid, stupid _feelings_.

Zayn makes an odd annoyed noise above him, like he can't actually figure out why Harry can't see it himself.

"Dude, you call him and hope that he hasn't seen this yet, and then you tell me before he hears it from someone else. I think it's pretty logical, so hurry the fuck up and do it."

Harry doesn't like to admit when other people are right, especially not when other people are Zayn, so he just stands up and searches through the clothes he carelessly threw on the floor last night, searching for his phone. He finds it in his underwear, and resolutely does _not_ think about how it got there, and ignores Zayn's "_Eugh, don't put that to your face, you disgusting boy!"_

He doesn't listen to him because, well, he never really does.

* * *

_**Thursday morning, at Niall's flat**_

It's like Niall's body made an unconscious decision to not go to classes today while he was still asleep, because he doesn't wake up until ten minutes _after_ his first class begins. Damn.

He accepts this gladly, though, because he's exhausted and his flat is filled with sleeping bodies and no way is he leaving any of them alone here. God knows what sort of damage they could do in just a few hours. Liam is missing though, and it's just like him to get up in time and not wake Niall up, the fucker.

There's not much he can do, what with three people sleeping in his tiny living room, so he pops himself up against Sean's legs by the sofa and opens his laptop, and entertains himself by snooping around on various social networking sites and writing a disapproving message on Liam's Facebook wall, and then he stumbles across several pictures from his and Harry's date last night at the restaurant on an online entertainment news site, and wait, what? What in the actual fuck is this?

Weird.

Hmm.

Oh?

Oh

Oh fuck.

Oh god, what?

"This is some kind of joke right?" he mutters to himself, he's so confused and he feels a little like he is maybe still asleep and Louis and Sean are pulling some sort of joke on him. Because what even is this?

Harry can't be… who they are saying he is, he would have found out. This is not… but that is definitely him and Harry and, now that he thinks about, it was a bit weird, and he remembers a few people standing around looking at them. Niall suddenly remembers the remarks he made about certain pop idols in Sean's shop and he's struck with embarrassment. Maybe that's why Harry didn't tell him the truth, and why-?

No wait, is he actually believing this? – this is too surreal, they must be mistaken. A case of mistaken identity, for sure.

_Liam_, he thinks, _Liam will know, absolutely he will, call him!_ But then again, what if this all is true, Liam might hate him for, you know, stealing his life's dream and purpose of his entire life, and that may not be such a good thing. _No, leave Liam out of this_.

He's so absorbed by himself in his own mind that he doesn't notices that the others have started waking up. He quickly shuts the laptop closed before someone snatches it from him and sees what he's been looking at. He needs to discover for himself what is going on before any of these guys do. Obviously Niall has not thought this through. It's not five seconds after Eleanor groans good morning until she's sitting with her phone in her hand, looking skeptically at it.

"Hey Niall, have you been hanging out with Harry Styles and not telling us about it? Mate, Liam will kill you," she says.

Niall's head snaps up, looking at Eleanor, Louis is also reading over her shoulder, trying to decipher what she's talking about. "Wh-what?"

"Danielle's just texted me. You're like all over the internet. They just know you as _unknown male 'friend'_ but she says it's totally you. What's going on?"

Niall is just about to answer that he has no fucking clue what's going on when his phone rings. It's Harry, of course it is.

"Niall?" Harry says after Niall answers his phone and proceeds to be utterly speechless for several seconds.

"Yes," he manages to finally mutter.

"So… how are you?" Harry asks, "did you get home alright last night?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine."

Harry sighs, and Niall just waits for him to bring it up, because he has no idea how to do it himself.

"Okay, good, me too… so I just… wanted to hear if-"

Niall doesn't get to hear what Harry is trying to say, because Sean grabs the phone out of his hand and _growls _down into it, "Are you Harry Styles, the popstar?"

Niall looks on as Sean's eyes grow ridiculously wide, and when he says, "Cool, I'm Sean, you bought CDs from me!" Niall wants to just curl up and be left alone in a corner. "Yeah, I'll let you talk to Niall again, yeah, here you go."

Sean _literally_ throws the phone at him, and if Niall wasn't so completely flustered he would smack him.

"Yeah, hi, again, sorry about that," he breathes into the phone, "that was just my stupid friend _trying_ and failing to be helpful."

There's some unintelligible noise from Harry, and then another loud sigh. "… I'm sorry, I should have told you. I was just… I just wanted you to like _me_."

"I… I do like _you_, that's why this whole thing is so bizarre."

There's a silence for a few seconds before Harry speaks again. "I'm sorry for not telling you who I am, and I hope the whole celebrity thing won't scare you off because I would really like to see you again, so maybe we could – start over or try again or whatever else people call it-"

Harry is talking so fast now and sounding nervous, but Niall hears himself interrupting before he has even made his mind up about what he is going to say. "I don't care! I mean, about the celebrity thing, I guess, I wished you had told me, but… we can't really do anything about that now, can we, so maybe we should just – try."

"Really, you want to?" Harry sounds surprised, shocked even.

"Yeah, I want to," Niall smiles even though he knows Harry can't see it, hoping maybe he can hear it in his voice instead. He is beginning to sound more and more like one of those romance novels Liam pretends he doesn't read but secretly does.

"Okay, alright, great then, maybe we could go out again later this week?" Harry asks.

"Definitely… but maybe somewhere more private, yeah?"

Niall still definitely wants to see Harry, because he's pretty sure he really, _really_ likes him a lot, but he's not that keen on seeing his own face everywhere the next morning.

"I'm looking forward to it."

Niall doesn't stop smiling.

Well, not until an hour later or so. They know of Liam's impending arrival approximately ten minutes before he even reaches the door, because they all hear him running loudly all the way up the stairs (Niall lives on the 11th floor, so it's pretty impressive) and down the hallway.

Niall flinches a bit and cuddles close to Louis when the door opens and Liam is looking at him with a wild look in his eyes. "Holy fucking god, what the fuck?" he exclaims and starts waving the tabloid in Niall's face, "What is going on and why was I not informed, oh my god, I'm having a heart attack."

Sean throws and arm around Liam and tries to get him to sit down, but Liam has other plans. "This is you, Niall, this is you with _Harry Styles_!" he continues his rant.

"Well, yes, but I didn't know it was him, I just thought he was, you know, _Harry_," Niall tries to explain. Liam actually doesn't look angry as much as confused and like he's trying to work out some complicated mystery.

"So, the Harry you've been seeing is really the famous, awesome, brilliant superstar Harry?" Liam sounds perplexed, "but really, Niall, how could you not recognize him, he's everywhere!"

"I have to agree with Liam, Niall," Louis says, "it's a bit weird. And you've been to our flat like a trillion million times, and there's not a surface that doesn't have some form of poster of Harry Styles."

Niall sinks down into the sofa. "I was never interested in him, I don't really pay attention when you talk about him – sorry, Liam (Liam glares at him like he's just said the most offensive thing imaginable), and he was trying to cover up his appearance. And he told me he was someone else! It worked, obviously."

Liam plumps down between Niall and Louis on the sofa, Sean and Eleanor huddled together in the beanbag across from them. "Well, shit, wow."

It's nothing but it makes them all laugh, mostly because of the absurdity of the whole situation. It's definitely not something that happens to a guy every day. When the laughter dies down again Eleanor asks what's going to happen now, and Niall blushes. Yet again.

"We're going out again this weekend."

This is followed by a series of _awws_ and_ oohs_ and _yays_ until Louis starts arguing with Eleanor about what Niall should wear for the date. ("No this is deadly important, El, if Niall plays this right we could all enjoy a life of fame and luxury for all eternity.")

Suddenly in the middle of their fake-fighting and Sean making rude gestures at Niall with his hands (Niall doesn't know why Sean insists on reminding him how long it's been since he's had sex, he _knows_, thank you very much.) Liam stands up so quickly he almost falls over.

"Fuck me sideways, you're dating Harry Styles!"

And yeah, apparently he kind of is.

* * *

_**Friday afternoon, at Niall's flat**_

"Harry Styles is coming _here_?"

Niall knew he should have asked someone else to come over to his place to study this afternoon, because he makes the mistake of telling Liam that Harry is picking him up here tonight and so far it's not doing any good for their concentration.

"Yes, he is, and you are leaving before he gets here, by the way, I won't let you ruin this for me and scare him away with your disturbing obsession," he says and turns the page of the book he really should be analyzing right now, "So, where were we – yes, it means-"

But Liam looks at him with wide eyes, mouth slightly trembling, putting on his best sad puppy look – the one people have such a hard time resisting and mostly leading to Liam getting what he wants. "But, Niall, _please, please, please_…"

Niall has to constantly remind himself to not give in. If this thing with Harry really works out Liam will get plenty of opportunities to talk to him, but it won't be tonight. It won't.

No, Liam, absolutely not."

Niall looks away from Liam and down at book again, because Liam has now taken to fake-sobbing and it almost breaks Niall's heart. It might be actual crying, come to think of it, it is totally something Liam would do. It is quite possible that Liam genuinely believes he won't survive if he's not here to see Harry in person.

"_Please, babe, please."_

Liam grabs his chin and forces Niall to look at him. _"Please_, I'll do anything, anything, I swear."

The sincerity in Liam's voice is what finally convinces Niall. He will probably regret this later, but maybe it could actually help Liam get over his obsession if he got to meet Harry and see he is just a normal guy and not the image and personification of perfection that he has created in his head.

"Okay, but you have to promise to behave and not embarrass me."

Liam jumps up and kisses him wetly on the cheek, "Thank you, thank you, I promise, I promise!"

Niall lets Liam jump around and laugh and cry for a couple of minutes before pulling him back towards the books because they really should be studying. "Get back here and help me you fool, or I will fail this shit and Cowell will send me evil eyes forever and all eternity."

Liam still looks ridiculously happy. "Nah, he won't, he's really alright Niall, and if you gave the class a chance and paid some attention I am sure you wouldn't hate it so much and you wouldn't be failing."

Niall snorts. "That's easy for you to say, you just have to smile a little or wink and Cowell is blushing and stuttering, it's so painful to watch. I actually feel a bit sorry for him, pining after something he won't ever get."

Liam smiles wickedly, "I know, isn't it great?"

"Please tell me you haven't-?"

Liam rolls his eyes, "No, of course not, I've just maybe told him I would, you know, _sleep with him_, if I get a perfect grade on my exam paper."

Niall wouldn't be surprised if it looked like his eyes might pop out of his head, he's genuinely and honestly shocked.

"Liam!" he says, "it's one thing to joke around about a silly crush and then actually doing something like that."

"Calm down Niall, I won't actually do it, and I was going to get a perfect grade anyway, it's just, sometimes I want to be outrageous and sneaky like you and Louis and Sean."

"And what do you think Cowell will say, or do, when he gives you a perfect grade and he doesn't get laid?"

Liam just shrugs. "Who cares? It's our final exam in Philosophy and he's not my professor in any other class, so it doesn't matter, does it. I'll never have to see him again."

Liam is apparently a little ball of surprises, and just when Niall thinks he knows him, he learns something new. Niall is both amused and somewhat frightened. "Okay, okay, but you need to _not_ live with Louis anymore."

Liam is a nightmare to be around for the rest of the afternoon. He won't shut up about _Harry Styles, oh my god oh my god oh my god_, and Niall wants nothing more than just slap him and make him shut the fuck up. He's nervous enough as it is.

It gets even worse when Louis decides to join them and it hits disaster level when Liam shrieks loudly and Niall realises that Louis brought Pussy with him.

"_Lou, why did you bring that evil creature? Oh my god what will Harry Styles think?"_

"_Li, I can't just abandon poor Puss home alone, can I? Show some humanity for gods sake, she's our baby – our love child."_

"_Love child? Humanity? It's an animal Louis, not a human! And in what world would we have a love child?"_

Niall leaves them to it and locks the door to his bedroom. It takes about an hour before they even notice he's not in the room with them anymore.

Harry will be here in an hour and he has no idea what to say or do and he's about to die of nervousness. Someone must be looking out for him because he has just finished that thought when his phone beeps with a new message. It's from Harry. He's smiling before he even read it. (Yes, he knows he's falling, okay.)

_Are you nervous too? x ;)_

He replies quickly that, yes, indeed he is, but funnily enough as soon as he knows Harry is nervous too he feels alright again, like a weight has been lifted of his shoulders. He feels less like he's about to go out on a date with a super famous popstar and more like they are two guys who like each other and are about to go out on their second date.

Perhaps that is why he feels brave enough to hang out with the two freaks in his kitchen again.

"Ten minutes Niall, ten minutes and you're not even dressed yet!" Liam is close to hysterical because Niall is still trying to decide between two shirts. "Niall, you can't just – you have to – it's _Harry Styles_, oh my god what will he think?"

Niall doesn't really think Harry would notice anyway, not judging by what Harry was wearing the last time he saw him – he didn't look like the kind of guy would cares about shit like this.

Louis is being ever so helpful, sitting on Niall's bed, petting Puss and laughing hysterically at them. (_"I'll just be here, petting Pussy, just like I did last night, if you know what I mean," Louis had said. Liam almost choked to death on his own shriek of horror. Being reminded of the hetero sex was Liam's least favourite thing.)_

"Niall," Louis says, "I don't give a shit what you wear, as long as you end up marrying Harry and we all can live a life of luxury forever and be spending all his money. God, wouldn't that just be great. I'd ditch Uni in a heartbeat."

"Louis! That is no way to talk about your education!"

"Chill, Li, we graduate next summer, he'll hardly marry him that soon."

"Harry Styles is a celebrity, Lou, they do crazy things, like fly to Las Vegas and marry people they hardly know and – Oh, Niall, promise me you would never do that. I'd just kill me – and your mum, oh she would be so devastated –"

"Li! Shut up, Niall looks like he's about to pass out, calm the fuck down."

And right then – right there in the middle of Liam's babbling, Louis' smirking and laughing and Niall nearly _dying, for fucks sake_ – there's a knock on the door.

"_He's here."_

Niall tells Liam and Louis to stay in the bedroom and only come out when they can control themselves and behave. A part of him wishes this won't happen until after he and Harry have left.

He calms himself down and lets Harry in. They share a bit of an awkward hug and yeah, now that Niall knows who he is, he can totally recognize him from all the posters and CD covers. He's slightly embarrassed he hadn't before, to be honest.

"Hi," Harry says and bites his bottom lip nervously. Niall just wants to kiss him again and again and again. He spots a guy standing behind Harry, and he's about to ask before Harry quickly starts talking. "Yeah, sorry, this is Zayn, my personal assistant. And, ehm, don't worry I'm not planning on taking him on the date, I can do that at least by myself – we're just dropping him at his mate's on the way."

Niall smiles at the very pretty assistant. "Hi, I'm Niall."

Zayn steps forward a bit, standing beside Harry now, and shakes his hand. "Hey, nice to meet you, I've heard a lot about-"

"Anyway," Harry quickly interrupts, "I hope you don't mind?"

"No, no problem, and also, hi." He smiles at Harry and the smile he receives back does _something_ to him and he's pretty sure he's just standing there blushing like an idiot.

"Hi again."

"Well, this is awkward," Zayn says and laughs at Harry and Niall standing there smiling at each other.

"Well, should we go?" Niall asks. He hesitates but tells himself to man up, so he leans over and kisses Harry on the cheek. He is pretty sure he can hear Zayn sniggering to himself. Maybe he's not the only one with overly-involved friends.

"Yeah, let's go," he says and begins to open the door, before…

"_Harry Styles, my new best friend!"_

… so close, too.

Louis is loud and booming as per usual, totally unaffected by the fact that there is an international superstar standing right in front of him. It's easy for him, the bastard – he doesn't have a crazy infatuation like Niall or an unreasonable obsession like Liam. "Fucking hell, good to meet you mate, Niall here has been pining like a loon all day!"

Louis doesn't shake hands, that is not part of his social skills, he just walks up and hugs Harry, and then Zayn. They both look a bit taken aback and overwhelmed.

"Eh, this is Louis, one of my friends. Lou, this is Harry and Zayn. Zayn is Harry's assistant."

"One of his _best_ friends! And hi!"

Niall had expected this sort of reaction from Louis. All up in your face, no personal boundaries. But Liam is just standing there in the doorway to the bedroom looking frozen and like he's gone into some sort of trance. It's a bit disconcerting because Liam is always so uptight about manners and proper behavior (and he always fails to see the irony when anyone points out that obsessive fanboy-ing is certainly not proper behavior) and right now he's just standing there gaping.

"And that fish standing over there is our lovely Liam – Liam is your biggest fan, Harry, which is probably why he's looking like an idiot right now, he's usually very bright," Louis says.

Harry smiles at Liam. "Hi, Liam, it's always good to meet a fan."

When Liam still doesn't respond Niall walks over to him and slings an arm around his shoulder. "Li, _Harry Styles_ is here and he's talking to you, are you not going to say anything?" he whispers in Liam's ear. Thankfully Louis is distracting Harry and Zayn by… whatever it is he's doing.

Liam finally turns to look at him. "Harry who?"

"Liam, what in the _world_ are you-" and that's when Niall realises that Liam wasn't staring at Harry at all. He follows Liam's eyes and oh, he's looking at Zayn.

He's looking at the very attractive personal assistant. He is totally ignoring Harry - he can't even speak.

_Oh_.

Niall has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling too much, but Louis catches on pretty fast, too. "This is fucking brilliant!"

Liam flushes a deep red, and starts spluttering out sounds that Niall thinks are supposed to be words of some kind. "I, no, what-"

Louis just laughs louder, Harry is smiling quizzically at Niall, and poor Zayn looks painfully confused by all of them. Niall doesn't blame him. "Sorry, am I missing something?" he asks.

"No no, no no no no," Liam says, "oh, I'm Liam, Niall's friend, and you – you are?"

Zayn shakes Liam's outstretched hand. "I'm Zayn, Harry's friend and assistant. Nice to meet you, Liam."

Liam just nods his head, apparently having lost his ability to speak again. They should have met ages ago.

"Anways," Louis says from where he is standing, arms crossed over his chest, looking gleefully at the scene playing out in front of him, "I think Harry and Niall have a date to go out on. Also, Liam, El let Danielle throw her party at our place tonight and I need Niall's place for my special plans with my girl, so you need to piss off too."

"What? You can't just do-"

Niall does not want Harry to witness one of the infamous arguments between his two friends, so he quickly takes his hand and pulls him towards the door again, and just when the whole situation is about to explode strolling into the room is Pussy The Cat.

Niall turns towards Louis, "Lou, I told you to keep the goddamn cat in the bathroom-"

Liam is shaking with embarrassment and anger and frustration, and is seconds away from crying, Niall can tell, and it probably doesn't help the way Zayn is looking so fucking gorgeous and Liam hasn't had sex in five months and twelve days and four hours (don't ask how Niall knows this). Now Harry is the one standing there laughing at the craziness. Niall would be embarrassed if he wasn't so annoyed at Louis.

"_Ooh, who this pretty girl?"_

All four turn and look at Zayn who is now kneeling on the floor, picking up Pussy in his arms, petting her softly. "Aww, aren't you just so cute."

"Yeah, Zayn is a bit of a cat person," Harry says, obviously amused. The rest of them are just staring at Zayn with Pussy, dumbfounded.

Zayn stands up again, still holding Puss. "I love her, who does she belong to?"

"She's mine, originally my girlfriend bought-"

"She's mine!" Liam says and picks Puss out of Zayn's arms and kisses her. "I just… I love cats so much, she's very special to me."

Zayn smiles brilliantly at Liam, and strokes Pussy (Niall slaps a hand over Louis' mouth because he knows what he's thinking and he won't let him ruin this for Liam, fuck sakes, Liam _needs_ this) again. "You are? How wonderful. This one is just gorgeous, isn't she?"

"She really is."

Niall is pretty sure he's gaping, because what fuck just happened there? He looks over at Louis, but Louis has the oddest expression ever on his face – like he's actually, for the first time in his life, _speechless_.

Liam must be really fucking super horny.

"Okay, then…" Louis says, "Yeah, okay, she's Liam's cat, Liam _loves her so much_," and he doesn't attempt to hide how he's rolling his eyes. Luckily for Liam Zayn doesn't seem to notice.

Niall leans closer to Harry and whispers in his ear, "I'll explain this later."

"Please do," Harry responds and quirks an eyebrow. He turns to Liam. "Liam, I'm sure you could go with Zayn to his friend's house, seeing as you've basically been kicked out of all your homes.

"Yeah, sure, of course," Zayn says and nods at Liam. "You want to come?" (Niall can actually _hear_ Louis thinking, _yeah, Liam really wants to come_…)

Liam makes an unintelligible hmmmm-ing noise which doesn't really help anything at all.

"That means yes in Liam Language," Niall says and more desperate than ever to get away from this, finally manages to close the door behind him and Harry, yelling "Have fun all!" through the door.

Harry doesn't stop laughing for two hours. Especially after Niall tells him what's going on.

* * *

_**Friday evening, in a cinema**_

Niall is very aware he has hearts in his eyes for Harry, thank you very much, but he just cannot help it. They're sitting in the back row and it feels like they're the only people in the entire cinema. Maybe because they are. Harry had been a bit embarrassed about it, not wanting to show off, but he hadn't wanted an episode like last time in the restaurant. Niall told him he didn't care and it was okay.

It's especially okay now, because he can sit here kissing Harry, not paying any attention to the film, and not having to try to hide like he usually has to do on dates with _regular_ people. ("Are you calling me un-regular?" Harry had snorted at him, with a flirty glint in his eye.)

Harry eventually pulls away and rests his head on Niall's shoulder. They sit in silence for a while, but Niall suspects neither of them are watching the screen. He knows he isn't, for sure. He's mostly focused on the feel of Harry's hair against his cheek.

Suddenly Harry lets out a little laugh. Niall turns towards him and looks at him. "What?"

"It's just," Harry says, "it's just that Zayn wasn't going to his friend's. It was just an excuse we made up – he just wanted to tag along so he could see you in person. And now, somehow, he has to find "a friend" because he said he would bring Liam-"

Niall joins Harry in laughing, and really, how fucked up is this whole thing.

_**Meanwhile in a car…**_

"… so you didn't really have plans tonight, but just wanted to meet Niall?" Liam asks, still not being able to look directly at Zayn, because when he does he is just overwhelmed by all the _pretty_.

Zayn nods, smiling to himself. "Yeah, I mean, I've listened to Harry talk about him constantly, and I just got curious."

Liam can't help but let out a little laugh, and if he had looked up he would have seen how much Zayn really appreciated his smile.

They're sitting in Harry's car and not really knowing where to go. Since Niall had dragged Harry off, Zayn had explained the situation to Liam, and that he wasn't really going anywhere tonight.

"… you could still just come back to our place… since you've been kicked out everywhere else," Zayn continues, and Liam's heart beat a little extra fast. It's almost too much to handle.

"Yeah, okay," he finally manages to stammer out. _Fuck, yes, please, let's do that_ is what he really means.

"Okay, we'll do that then, we can watch a movie or something."

Zayn leans forward to give the driver (because of course Harry has a fucking private chauffeur) directions and Liam catches a glimpse of skin where Zayn's t-shirt is riding up on his back. He wants to lean over and run his fingers across the beautiful, golden skin and fuck, but why did he ever think that Harry's pasty skin was attractive, when clearly this is _perfection_. Liam is a little lost in his thoughts and when he finally realises this Zayn is looking expectantly at him, obviously waiting for him to respond to something. "Liam?"

He blushes, of course. "Eh, sorry, I wasn't… sorry, what, what were you saying?"

Zayn shakes his head while laughing. "I was just asking were you and Niall know each other from – you know, trying to small talk or whatever… since we are going to be spending the rest of the day together, apparently."

"Oh yeah, of course." Liam hates how much of a dork he is sometimes.

"So…"

"So… what?"

"You and Niall? How did you meet?"

Oh yeah. _Such_ a dork, honestly.

And somehow, despite his absolute awkwardness, Liam makes it through telling Zayn about Niall, and Sean, and Eleanor and Louis, and how it was such a mess in the beginning, but now they all love each so much its disturbing. Liam is not normally this talkative with strangers, he only really talks to people he knows really, really well, but there's just something about Zayn that makes him open up. Maybe the fact that Zayn seems genuinely interested in what Liam has to say. It's weird because Zayn is Harry Styles' best friend and he probably knows all sorts of famous and rich and fascinating people, and he's probably fucked a lot of them, too, and Liam is just… Liam. Plain and ordinary and boring and so not exciting at all.

He doesn't stand a fucking chance. Zayn is probably just trying to be nice because he's stuck with Liam for the rest of the night.

Liam leans back and looks out the window, watching the city as they drive through it, listening to Zayn talking about some event he and Harry went to last weekend. He sighs quietly, and feels like he's in some movie. If only, he thinks. He and Zayn could be the epic love story film and Harry and Niall the romantic comedy. (Louis and Eleanor could be the documentary about monkeys or sea lions or whatever.)

_**Later that evening...**_

"So, the movie was pretty good," Niall says as he and Harry exit the car and make their way to Harry's house. Harry just rolls his eyes at him. "Like you paid any attention to it – I distinctly remember you being all over me the whole time – do you even know what it was about?"

Niall stops walking, holding on to Harry's hand, making him stop as well, just outside the door. He leans in to kiss Harry, but Harry stops him with a hand to his chest just before he can. He's just about to let a feeling of hurt settle in his gut before Harry drags him inside and shuts the door behind them.

And _wow_, Harry is kissing him again, and Niall thinks he won't ever get over how amazing it feels.

When Harry pulls back there's a certain sparkle in his eyes (and Niall hates clichés but it's just so _fitting_) and he whispers in Niall's ear; "you never know where someone's lurking with a camera, sorry I dragged you._"_

_I'll let you drag me anywhere_, is something Liam would have said, but Niall will absolutely _not_ say that. But he really, really wants to, though.

They're still kissing when they reach the living room and Niall has a very good feeling about where this is heading, and he's sort of very excited about it.

Harry pushes him down on the sofa, but he then claps a hand over his mouth and shrieks, because shit, that's a person Niall just landed on. He looks up into Liam's startled eyes, and he stands up so fast he gets a little dizzy.

"What the fuck!"

It's Zayn talking, furiously rubbing his eyes, trying to wake up. It's quite clear that Zayn and Liam must have fallen asleep watching a movie or something, because they both look so utterly confused it's adorable.

Harry must think so, too, because he's now laughing loudly and sits down in Zayn's lap. Zayn now just looks annoyed or maybe that's just how he looks when he's sleepy.

"Well, I was kind of wanting to use this room, and this is _my_ house, so maybe you guys could leave – I mean, I _am_ the one who's rich and famous here," Harry says, small smirk on his face.

Liam's eyes grow wide and almost wet. Niall doesn't fail to notice Zayn's arm around his waist.

"You're kicking me out from here as well? Where can I stay-"

"No one is kicking you out, Li, Harry can fuck Niall in his own room," Zayn says firmly, and Niall blushes, well, _fuck_. Also, _Li_, where did that come from? He will have to talk to Liam about this tomorrow.

The smirk disappears off Harry's face and is replaced with a genuine smile. "Don't worry Liam, I'm only joking, of course you can stay here. I see that Zayn's been taking good care of you." (Zayn just glares at Harry, but doesn't comment.)

Harry then proceeds to take Niall's hand and leads him away to his bedroom. Niall winks at Liam who's gone redder than ever before.

Fucking perfect night and it's only just begun.

* * *

_**Saturday Morning, at Harry's flat**_

Niall wakes up on Saturday morning feeling sore in all the right places, Harry's arm slung over his waist, and yeah, wow, fuck last night was _amazing_. He would gladly just stay like this until Harry wakes up, but he really, really needs to take a piss.

On his way back from the bathroom he stumbles in to Liam, evidently coming from the kitchen area.

"So…" Niall winks at him.

"So…" Liam smiles back, flushed from the bridge of his nose all the way down his neck.

After ten seconds of just staring at each other they both burst into laughter. They don't stop laughing for a while.

"I will need all details later, by the way," Niall says as they part ways, heading back to different bedrooms.

"I didn't sleep with him, we just… you know, shared a bed, that's all," Liam says, but he's smiling too much for that to be entirely true.

"Yeah, yeah, tell me all about it later."

"You too."

Later in the day when he is making his way home he can't understand why people aren't looking at him funnily because he is sure the fact that he has a new boyfriend must be showing all over his face. He guesses he should just enjoy being anonymous for as long as he can, because as soon as people find out about him and Harry his life will never be the same.

He is excited for it, though. He can't wait to properly be Harry's, he's ready for whatever will happen now.

* * *

_**Saturday afternoon, at Niall's flat**_

Back in his own flat he finds Louis and Eleanor already interrogating poor Liam, who looks utterly blissed out but also slightly disturbed by the crazy couple. Who wouldn't be…

He looks relived when he spots Niall.

"Niall, save me!" he shouts and runs into Niall's outstretched arms. "Guys, be nice to my little Liam, he's just a baby."

Eleanor rolls her eyes. "Oh please, we just want to know what happened last night."

"You too, Niall. Every single fucking detail. Especially the sexy ones," Louis adds, smiling smugly.

Niall rolls his eyes at them and hugs Liam tighter. He loves all these idiots so much and he knows they won't stop until he talks, so he figures he might as well just do. He says as much to Liam, and Louis woops loudly. "Let me just call Sean first – he'll want to hear this too!"

"Oh god, I don't want an _audience_," Liam sighs, but doesn't argue because Louis is Louis and Sean is Sean and this is just the price he has to pay for being best friends with them.

"I didn't have sex with Zayn, if that's what you're all thinking," Liam says.

Louis shakes his head disapprovingly. "That's just like you Liam, you had the best opportunity right in front of you, a whole night alone with a hot guy and still – nothing."

Pathetic, man, absolutely pathetic," Sean agrees.

"Did you kiss him at least?"

Liam looks at Eleanor, and puts a hand over his mouth to cover a growing smile on his face.

"You did, great!" she shrieks.

"I was just… we were watching a movie, and then… this was after Harry and Niall got back, nothing happened before, and he said sorry for Harry's stupidity ("Harry is not stupid, he was just joking!") and then he said I was really cute…" ("You are cute, Li, you are cute!")

Liam is blushing terribly now, but bravely continues his story. "and then he, you know, leaned over and… kissed me."

"And how was it?" Sean pushes, "Was there fireworks? Did the Earth shake? Did you lose your mind?"

"Yes," Liam simply says and Niall can actually _see_ the hearts in his eyes. He is so, so happy for him.

"And now what?" he asks him.

Liam shakes himself out of his daze to look at Niall. "We're going out tonight."

"Aww, this is all so adorable, now-" Louis turns to Niall, " – you're turn."

After Niall is done telling them about how he and Harry made out like teenagers and then how Harry fucked him into the mattress and how it was literally the _best ever_ and after Sean forces him to show they all the bruises – yes, that really happened – they order pizza and spend the rest of the day lounging in front of the TV. It seems to be a common theme of their friendship group.

Of course, it doesn't mean that Louis stops teasing Liam about his still visible blushing or Niall about his impending fame as That Guy Who Is Dating Harry Styles.

Sean laughs himself silly imagining Niall running from the paparazzi, sandwich in one hand, guitar in the other. Eleanor mostly won't shut up about what pretty babies Liam and Zayn would have. Liam's whole face lights up, and maybe Niall will have to give him a lesson in biology soon.

"We should make pretty babies soon," Louis says and leans over to give Eleanor an obnoxiously sloppy snog right in front of Niall's face. "Eww, you guys, this is no place for heterosexual kissing, go away," he moans at them.

"Hmm, maybe we should," Eleanor says when Louis finally lets her go.

And why not, Niall thinks. It's not like any of their lives could really get any more fucked up / amazingly fantastic than they are right now. (He's wrong, though, because two years later Sean starts dating a royal prince (a real one, not just a stripper with a cool name) and _damn_, he hadn't seen that coming. He tells the guys this, and Liam shrieks with horror because Louis makes one of his usual jokes about _coming_ while holding a fucking _baby_ in his arms.)

"This is perfection, man, perfection I tell you," Louis sighs happily.

Niall agrees.


End file.
